The final Zoo Quest series, filmed in the Northern Territory of Australia, was also Attenborough's final natural history series before moving into BBC management. Episode list: “The Desert Gods”, “Hermits of Borolloola”, “The Artists of Arnhem Land”, “Bush Walkabout”, “The First Australians"; Buffalo, Geese and Men”.

Writer, presenter, sound-recordist and producer

No

1965

Zambezi

3x50min

During a break from studying for an anthropology degree, Attenborough filmed a journey down the Zambezi. Episode list: “Lord of the Land”, “The Ancient Highway”, “Livingstone's River”

Attenborough's first natural history series after resigning as BBC Controller took him to South East Asia Episode list: The Strange Caves Of Borneo; Fire Giants Of Sumatra; Mudbuilders Of Borneo; Green Ceilings Of Borneo; Borneo's Cathedral Of Trees; Life And Death In Paradise

Writer and presenter

No

1973

The Life Game

1x90min

A "Science Special" on genetics and evolution, written by Nigel Calder and produced by Adrian Malone

A series of drama-documentaries recreating the voyages of famous explorers, at the time the most expensive series ever commissioned by the BBC. Episode titles: The Story of Roald Amundsen, The Story of Charles Montague Doughty, The Story of Henry Morton Stanley, The Story of Burke And Wills, The Story of Mary Kingsley, The Story of Jedediah Strong Smith, The Story of Alexander von Humboldt, The Story of Captain James Cook, The Story of Francisco Pizarro, The Story of Christopher Columbus

A series on tribal art, of which Attenborough is a keen collector. Episode list: “Behind the Mask”, “Crooked Beak of Heaven”, “Sweat of the Sun”, “Kingdom of Bronze”, “Woven Gardens”, “Man Blong”, “Across the Frontiers”

Writer and presenter

Yes

1976

The Discoverers

6x30min

A series on pioneering explorers, discoverers and scientists in the field of natural history. Episode list: The Bone Hunters”, “The Bug Collectors”, “The Wanderer and the Woodsman”, “The Unknown Ocean”, “The Rare and the Curious”

Covering the history of life on Earth, this acclaimed series was three years in the making and notable for its groundbreaking footage. Episode list: “The Infinite Variety”, “Building Bodies”, “The First Forests”, “The Swarming Hordes”, “Conquest of the Waters”, “Invasion of the Land”, “Victors of the Dry Land”, “Lords of the Air"”, “The Rise of the Mammals”, “Theme and Variations”, “The Hunters and Hunted”, “Life in the Trees”

The follow-up to Life on Earth was another ambitious global series looking at the variety of habitats on the planet. Episode list: “The Building of the World”, “The Frozen World”, “The Northern Forests”, “Jungles";Seas of Grass”, “The Baking Deserts”, “The Sky Above”, “Sweet Fresh Water”, “The Margins of Land”, “Worlds Apart”, “The Open Ocean”, “New Worlds”

Writer and presenter

Yes

1985

The Million Pound Bird Book

1x60min

Attenborough presents a programme on the American naturalistJohn James Audubon, whose book of life-size bird paintings had recently fetched £1 million at auction

A series on the Mediterranean, examining the natural history of the region and the impact that successive human civilisations have had on the environment- Episode list: “The Making of the Garden”, “Gods Enslaved”, “The Wastes of War”, “Strangers in the Garden”.

The final part of the original Trilogy of Life deals with the animal behaviour, with each episode focusing on a particular stage of animals' lives. Episode list: “Arriving”, “Growing Up”, “Finding Food”, “Hunting and Escaping”, “Finding the Way”, “Home Making”, “Living Together”, “Fighting”, “Friends and Rivals”, “Talking to Strangers”, “Courting”, “Continue the Line”.

A collaboration with Alastair Fothergill, this was the first series devoted to the natural history of Antarctica. Episode list: “The Bountiful Sea”, “The Ice Retreats”, “The Race to Breed”, “The Door Closes”, “The Big Freeze”, “Footsteps in the Snow”.

In the first of his more specialised Life series, Attenborough brought the world of plants to life using innovations such as timelapse photography. Episode list: “Travelling”, “Growing”, “Flowering”, “The Social Struggle”, “Living Together”, “Surviving”.

Writer and presenter

Yes

1996

Winners and Losers

2x45min

A look at how the subjects of early wildlife filmmaker Eugene Schumacher's 1960s documentary The Rare Ones have fared in the intervening years

Collection of seven documentaries recorded between 1971-2004. Episode list: “A Blank on the Map” (1971); “Attenborough in Paradise” (1996), “The Lost Gods of Easter Island” (2000), “Bowerbirds: The Art of Seduction” (2000), “The Song of the Earth” (2000), “Life on Air: David Attenborough’s 50 Years in Television” (2002), “The Amber Time Machine” (2004)

For this series, infrared cameras were employed for the first time to film nocturnal birds such as kiwis and shearwaters. Episode list: “To Fly or Not to Fly”, “Mastery of Flight”, “Insatiable Appetite”, “Meat Eaters”, “Fishing for a Living”, “Signals and Songs”, “Finding Partners”, “Demands of the Egg”, “Problems of Parenthood”, “Limits of Endurance”

Writer and presenter

Yes

1998

The Origin of Species: An Illustrated Guide

1x30min

Broadcast as part of a BBC season on evolution, this programme used library footage to help explain Charles Darwin's theory

Narrator

No

1999

Sharks - The Truth

1x50min

A programme which seeks to dispel some of the received wisdom surrounding shark behaviour, broadcast as part of BBC One's Shark Summer season

Narrator

No

1999

They Said It Couldn't Be Done

7x60min

On the eve of the millennium, Attenborough interviews a series of leading wildlife film-makers in front of an audience at the Royal Geographical Society to discover the secrets behind some of their most famous programmes

Attenborough's first overtly environmental series examines the detrimental impact that modern man is having on the natural world. Episode list: “Is there a Crisis?”, “Why is there a Crisis?”, “The Future of Life”.

Writer and presenter

Yes

2000

Living with Dinosaurs

1x50min

A profile of crocodiles, turtles and other modern reptiles whose ancestry can be traced back to the dinosaurs

Narrator

No

2000

The Greatest Wildlife Show on Earth

1x50min

A Christmas special in which Attenborough travels to some of the world's wildlife hotspots to view spectacular natural events

To follow up The Life of Birds, Attenborough turned his attention to the mammals, the most successful group of modern animals. Episode list: “A Winning Design”, “Insect Hunters”, “Plant Predators”, “Chisellers”, “Meat Eaters”, “Opportunists”, “Return to the Water”, “Life in the Tree”, “Social Climbers”, “Food for Thought”.

Writer and presenter

Yes

2002

Great Natural Wonders of the World

1x60min

A sequel to The Greatest Wildlife Show on Earth, this programme featured natural wonders such as the Grand Canyon and was again screened at Christmas time

Presenter

No

2004

Satoyama: Japan's Secret Water Garden

2x52min

Documentary about how the local residents of a village in 'Satoyama' live in harmony with nature.

Narrator

No

2005

Animal Crime Scene

5x60min

A series which combined the traditional wildlife documentary format with that of a crime drama. Episode list: “Outback Assassin”, “Ocean Assassin";Arctic Assassin”, “Amazon Assassin”

Developments in macro and close-up film technology enabled the world of invertebrates to be brought to the screen for the first time. Episode list: “Invasion of the Land”, “Taking to the Air”, “The Silk Spinners”, “Intimate Relations”, “Supersocieties”.

Attenborough concluded his globetrotting documentaries with the final part of the specialised Life series, featuring reptiles and amphibians. Episode list: “The Cold Blooded Truth”, “Land Invaders”, “Dragons of the Dry”, “Sophisticated Serpents”, “Armored Giants”.

The film techniques of Planet Earth are deployed to dramatise some of the greatest annual wildlife events on the planet. Episode list: “The Great Melt”, “The Great Salmon Run”, “The Great Migration”, “The Great Tide”, “The Great Flood”, “The Great Feast”.

A landmark series documenting some of the more unusual survival strategies that animals and plants around the globe have evolved. Episode list: “Challenges of Life”, “Reptiles and Amphibians”, “Mammals”, “Fish” ,“Birds”, “Insects”, “Hunters and Hunted”, “Creatures of the Deep”, “Plants”, “Primates”.

Attenborough warns that with Earth’s population is approaching seven billion, the drain on the denizens of the world’s oceans is becoming insupportable, many aquatic species are hurtling towards extinction, and at this rate the international commercial fishing industry will collapse by 2050.

Sky 3D series filmed at the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew. In this sensational series, David Attenborough uses the latest time-lapse and macro photography filming to reveal a wholly unseen dimension in the lives of plants, from the most bizarre to the most beautiful. David traces plants from their beginnings on land to their vital place in nature today, exposing new revelations along the way. Episode list: “Life in the Wet Zone”, “Solving the Secrets”, “Survival”.

Writer and presenter

Yes

2012

Attenborough's Ark: A Natural World Special

1x60min

David Attenborough picks his top ten endangered animals that he thinks should be saved from extinction.

Attenborough looks back at the unparalleled changes in natural history that he has witnessed during his 60-year career. Broadcast in the US as Attenborough's Life Stories. Episode list: “Life on Camera”, “Understanding the Natural World”, “Our Fragile Planet”.

Writer and presenter

Yes

2012

Hummingbirds: Jewelled Messengers

1x45min

Documentary on hummingbirds, the ultimate creatures of the air.

Presenter

No

2013

Plants Behaving Badly

2x45min

2-part special on plants. Episode list: “Murder and Mayhem”, “Sex and Lies”.

Sky 3D series in which Attenborough explores the history of the Galapagos Islands two hundred years after Charles Darwin set foot on the shores of this wild and mysterious archipelago. Journey with Attenborough to explore how life on the islands has continued to evolve in biological isolation, and how the ever-changing volcanic landscape has given birth to species and sub-species that exist nowhere else in the world. Episode list: “Origin”, “Adaptation”, “Evolution”.

David Attenborough has spent a lifetime documenting the natural world. He's met a great number of nature's most extraordinary creatures yet there are certain stories of bewildering animals that continue to intrigue him – from the peculiar patterns of a zebra's stripes to the evolutionary quirk of the egg-laying platypus. Each episode of this captivating five-part series explores the stories behind two natural curiosities, linked together by a common theme. Filmed on location in the UK, David's gift for storytelling combined with wonderful images of the animal subjects creates a documentary series unlike any other he has made before. Episode list: “Stretched To The Limit”, “A Curious Hoax?”, “Young Wrinklies”, “A Curious Twist”, “Seeing the Pattern”.

BBC series in which Attenborough explores life in Africa.This is the world’s wildest continent as you’ve never seen it before – an intense sensory adventure from the Atlas Mountains, through the Savannah lands to the Cape of Good Hope and from the Roof of Africa and the Kalahari to where the dark rainforests of the Congo meet the Atlantic Ocean. Each episode shifting the focus onto a different region as it contrasts the epic power of the landscape with the dramatic struggles of individual creatures living there. The series has been four years in production, involving 79 filming expeditions in 27 different countries with a total of 1,600 days spent on location – and 6,500 malaria tablets for crew members. Each episode looks to a different region, with the first being called Kalahari – focusing on the wildlife of two deserts in Africa’s southwest corner. The second episode, Savannah, looks at the unique and constantly changing landscape of east Africa, featuring crocodiles catching pelicans in Mozambique’s Gorongosa National Park. Gorongosa, known as ‘Africa’s lost Eden’, is featured again in the final hour of the series, The Future of Africa, and considered a beacon of hope by a pensive Attenborough, musing over the threats to Africa’s wild future. Episode list: “Kalahari"; Savannah"; Congo”, “Cape”, “Sahara”, “The Future”, “The Greatest Show on Earth”.

Narrator/presenter

Yes

2013

Micro Monsters 3D

6x60min

Sky 3D series looking at Insects. David Attenborough takes you on an amazing journey into the hidden world of bugs. Micro Monsters uses pioneering macroscopic camera techniques to get closer than ever to the fascinating, beautiful, scary and downright alien world of arthropods – spiders, scorpions and insects. David reveals how and why bugs became the most successful group of animals on the planet and shows the tactics these amazing creatures use to survive and thrive. Episode list: “Conflict”, “Predator”, “Courtship”, “Reproduction”, “Family”, “Colony”.

Narrator/presenter

Yes

2013

'Wild Cameramen at Work

4x30min

Series looking at work of leading wildlife cameramen. Episode list: “Sky”, “Ice”, “Sea”, “Land”.

From the triple Emmy-winning producers of David Attenborough’s First Life comes the sensational follow up David Attenborough’s Rise of Animals. This landmark series charts the complex and fascinating evolutionary path that connects us, and all other vertebrates living on Earth today, to the very first life forms with a backbone. It is a remarkable journey that spans the ages, and reaches to the far corners of the modern world. Episode list: “From the Seas to the Skies”, “Dawn of the Mammals”.

Attenborough profiles the curious animals that continue to baffle and fascinate him. Series 1 was broadcast on Eden in 2013 and Series 2 on Watch in 2014. Episode list Season 2: The 10-part series follows Sir David as he travels across the UK to explore animal oddities that other TV programmes simply do not cover. Each episode features two different animals with curiously distinctive evolutionary quirks, linked together by a common theme. Series two features creatures that have attracted the attention of great scientists and explorers. Episode list: 1) Virgin Births – Naturalist David Attenborough shines the spotlight on some of nature's evolutionary anomalies and how these curious animals continue to baffle and fascinate. In this edition, he examines the unusual ways in which Komodo dragons and aphids reproduce. 2) Armoured Animals – Sir David Attenborough attempts to get in behind the armour of two incredible animals; rhinos and hedgehogs. 3) Life in the Dark – David Attenborough looks at the eyes of squid and owls and how they've managed to maximise their vision. 4) Curious Imposters – Cuckoos and death's head hawkmoths may just be some of the most cunning creatures on our planet. 5) Bad Reputations – In Bad Reputations, we'll see how the gorilla and the vampire bat both gained frightening reputations when first discovered by explorers and scientists. 6) Shocking Senses – Plants and animals have some curious super senses that we find hard to fathom in our world of only five senses. 7) Life on Ice – Emperor penguins and wood frogs have remarkable adaptations to survive the most challenging of conditions. 8) Spinners and Weavers – Nature's inventiveness is expertly highlighted in the artistry of weaving and the unique properties of silk. 9) Strange Parents – David Attenborough reveals why male seahorses give birth, and looks at how hyena packs are dominated by the female members. 10) Magical Appearances – "Magical Appearances" explores how swallows magically appear each spring and asks how did complex and beautiful insects like butterflies suddenly arrive in the summer.The discovery of the swallow's epic migration and the revelation that butterflies could metamorphose into totally different looking adults were scientific stories both cloaked in mystery and controversy.

Sky 3D one-off special. Attenborough looks at some of the more intriguing extinct specimens at the Natural History Museum in London by bringing them to life. He comes face to face with extinct creatures, as they magically come alive in front of his eyes for one night only. He interacts with dinosaurs, sabre toothed tigers, giant snakes, ancient marine animals and even the famous dodo bird, all revived through stunning photo-realistic CGI.

Sir David Attenborough takes us on the journey through life, a story that unites each of us with every animal on the planet, because we all set out on this journey from the moment we are born. For animals there is just one goal in life – to continue their bloodline in the form of offspring. They are an animal’s legacy for the future. The story of their journey is about hope, facing danger, actions of breath-taking boldness, extraordinary behaviours and, ultimately, success against the odds. This series follows that journey through its six crucial stages. Episode list: “Steps”, “Growing Up”, “Home”, “Power”, “Courtship”, “Parenthood".

Sky 3D series telling the story of nature's greatest aeronauts and the intricate engineering that has allowed them to conquer the skies. Through the combination of new 3D macroscopic and high-speed filming techniques, David Attenborough examines the evolutionary story from the very first insects to the incredible array of creatures which rule the skies today. From the steaming rainforests of Borneo to the frozen fossil beds of China, the arid canyons of Spain to the cloud forests of Ecuador, this series spans the globe to explore the story of how the flying animals came to conquer the skies. In Conquest of the Skies, Attenborough travels back in time to unravel the astonishing 300-million-year story of how these animals first appeared, and then evolved into the huge variety of aeronauts that fill our skies today. Episode list: “The First to Fly”, “Rivals”, “Triumph”.

Writer and presenter

Yes

2015

Attenborough's Paradise Birds

1x60min

David Attenborough learns about the remarkable story of how 'birds from paradise' have captivated explorers, naturalists, artists, filmmakers and royalty throughout the years.

Sir David Attenborough returns to UKTV with an all-new and exclusive third series of the acclaimed Natural Curiosities. The natural world is full of extraordinary animals with amazing life histories. Some were surrounded by myth and misunderstandings for a very long time; others have only recently revealed their secrets. David Attenborough once again reveals another group of creatures that have baffled or fascinated us for centuries.

In addition to writing, presenting, narrating and producing his own documentaries, David Attenborough has made regular appearances as an on-screen and off-screen participant in other film-makers' documentaries and on other numerous television programmes. The following list includes some of his more notable appearances plus long-running shows:

Sir David leads an engaging exploration of these unusual looking fish, this forty minute programme follows seahorse expert, passionate ichthyologist and leading conservationist Dr Amanda Vincent as she attempts to prevent the seahorses’ untimely extinction.

Shown as part of the BBC’s Q.E.D. strand, The Secret Life of Seahorses includes intriguing underwater footage of their mating rituals in the wild. The only species where the male becomes pregnant, close-up photography details the female injecting her eggs into her partner’s brood pouch.

Is a nature documentary DVD (BBCDVD1131) introduced by David Attenborough. It consists of a compilation of sequences from many of the BBC Natural History Unit's award-winning natural history series and specials, including Life on Earth, The Trials of Life, Wildlife on One and The Blue Planet. The featured clips are according to the habitats they were filmed in, including ocean, forest, jungle and desert.

Our world is threatened by an environmental catastrophe and crippled by our own greed. Are we really too selfish to save it? In The Selfish Green, the brilliant scientists Sir David Attenborough, Professor Richard Dawkins, Dr Jane Goodall and Dr Richard Leakey come together to debate these issues.

Interviewee

No

2006

Favourite Attenborough Moments

Unknown

Favourite Attenborough Moments is the name of a television poll conducted by the UKTV Documentary channel in 2006. The poll called on members of the British public to vote for their favourite moment from Sir David Attenborough's 50-year career in broadcasting.The format consisted of two programmes. My Favourite Attenborough Moment was the first, broadcast on 15 April 2006. Celebrity admirers of Attenborough's work (including Joanna Lumley, Björk and several presenters and producers from the BBC Natural History Unit) introduced a shortlist of twenty highlights from Attenborough's nature documentaries and advocated their particular favourites. The second programme, Your Favourite Attenborough Moment, counted down the same twenty clips in the order of votes received from the viewers. It was broadcast on 7 May 2006, the day before Attenborough's 80th birthday, and featured interviews with Attenborough in which he described the experiences of filming them.

Fossil Detectives is a 2008 BBC Television documentary series in which presenter Hermione Cockburn travels across Great Britain exploring fossil sites and discovering the latest scientific developments in geology and palaeontology. Episode 1 - "Central England" Sir David Attenborough talks about his early fossicking for Ammonites, Belemnites and Brachiopods with his father Frederick around his childhood home in Leicestershire. In Episode 2 - "London" Sir David Attenborough displays the selected highlights from his personal fossil collection, including a Devonian fish, a Sauropod vertebrate, and a Trilobite track, at his home in London.

"How Many People Can Live on Planet Earth?" Investigation into whether the world is heading for a population crisis. "The Death of the Oceans?" Investigation into whether it is too late to save their remarkable biodiversity.

Attenborough collaborates with Björk on this Channel 4 documentary which looks at music in the natural world

Co-presenter

Yes

2013

Bill Bailey's Jungle Hero

2x60min

Brit comedian and nature lover Bill Bailey introduces us to naturalist Alfred Russell Wallace, contemporary of Charles Darwin and independent discoverer of the mechanics of natural selection and biological evolution. Episodes: In Borneo& In the Spice Islands.

Sir David Attenborough reflects on what printed books have meant to him throughout his life. David Attenborough, who has collaborated on a number of Folio Society editions, is one of the world’s foremost naturalists. His career spans 60 years of broadcasting and he is the author of numerous books.

Presenter

No

2014

Lincoln School of Media, "Sir Joseph Banks - Endeavour"

1x12min

This short documentary features David Attenborough discussing the life and legacy of Sir Joseph Banks, botanist, scientist, explorer and President of the Royal Society.

Interviewee

No

2015

Society of Biology, "Biology - Changing the World"

1x14min

This short documentary features David Attenborough discussing role of biology.